JEREMY Clarkson is the centre of controversy once again after a number plate with a rude word was found in his abandoned car in Argentina by police.

Jeremy Clarkson had a BE11 END number plate in his car which was abandoned in the Falklands[SPLASH/ENTERPRISE]

The licence, which read BE11 END, was discovered after the Top Gear crew had to flee the country following a row surrounding the Falklands War.

Two plates, one yellow and another one white, were found inside Clarkson's ditched and smashed up vintage Porsche and appeared to read the insult.

Clarkson was embroiled in controversy when locals reacted angrily to a licence that read H982 FKL that appeared to reference the 1982 Falklands War.

The 54-year-old and fellow presenters James May and Richard Hammond had their cars pelted with stones and had to abandon their vehicles by a roadside.

The Top Gear presenters fled by plane while the crew made a gruelling six-hour trek to the Chilean border to escape Argentina.

The Falklands War, which took plane for more than two months in 1982, ended with Argentina surrendering to British forces.

However, some 649 Argentinians died and more than 1,600 were wounded while 258 Britons were killed and almost 800 left injured.

The number plate was discovered by Argentinian police in Clarkson's abandoned car [IG]

[The number plate] was going to be used on one of the cars during a football match which they had planned to be the ending of the film

A BBC spokeswoman

A BBC spokeswoman confirmed the BE11 END numbers plate were in Clarkson's car and were meant to be used for a segment at the end of the episode.

She said: "The number plate was never put on the car, never used and never filmed.

"It was going to be used on one of the cars during a football match which they had planned to be the ending of the film.

"But that never happened as they left the country instead. It was never on the car."

She added that Clarkson and the Top Gear crew are now safely back in the UK after their angry reception in Argentina which involved death threats.

Jeremy Clarkson and the Top Gear crew had to flee Argentina following public outrage [ENTERPRISE]

Clarkson was previously called a b**** e** by Top Gear co-star May when he tried to defend the presenter from allegations he was a racist.

At the time, May tweeted: "Jeremy Clarkson is not a racist. He is a monumental b****** and many other things, but not a racist.

"I wouldn't work with one."

BBC bosses had previously said the number plate which caused the Top Gear crew to flee Argentina last week coincidentally referenced the Falklands War.

Jeremy Clarkson was accused of having a number plate which referenced the Falklands War [ENTERPRISE]

Andy Williams, the show's executive producer, said: "Top Gear production purchased three cars for a forthcoming programme; to suggest that this car was either chosen for its number plate, or that an alternative number plate was substituted for the original is completely untrue."

When Clarkson's Porsche was abandoned last Thursday near the border with Chile it had been fitted with another number plate which read HI VAE.

Angry locals proceeded to pelt it with stones and smash the windows of the car and the ones May and Hammond were driving.

Police have sent a judge in the Rio Grande city pictures of the offending number plates along with pictures of the BE11 END licence.

Court sources said the use of different number plates to those that appear in the car's official documentation would constitute a crime.

The investigating judge is due to decide whether to open a criminal probe.